One Summer Night
by Prophetandprincess
Summary: Bucky Barnes is drawn to a farmstead in the Midwest before he makes his final escape to Europe to avoid being captured.


One Summer Night

He shouldn't be there.

Bucky had done nothing but scolded himself the whole time that he had been watching the farmstead for the past two days. He should be on his way out of the country, again, but he couldn't help himself. The surveillance of the large, but old, farmstead was a lot more difficult than he would have thought, but he had never backed down from a difficult mission. Not that he had ever been given a choice. It was what he had been remade for, all the training, decades of being a ghost when it suited whoever had the words. Difficult missions. Changing the world.

This was just another mission.

Most of the land around the farm was flat, the crops not high enough for him to hide in yet. It was also a small community, any newcomers were noted and watched with suspicion, even the ones that didn't have a metal arm. He had spent the past couple days watching the coming and going of almost everyone in town, figuring out their schedules. One family more than the others.

The man of the house was up each morning at five, out to see to the horses and other livestock. The woman of the house was up at six, making him breakfast and then setting out to take care of the garden. Every day, like clockwork, they went about the daily farm chores with rarely any deviation. The daughter was more unpredictable, leaving the house at all hours to go running or just walk through the fields. If she was in a good mood maybe swimming in the creek that passed near the family's land. Her room light on at all hours of the night.

Then again, she had always been unpredictable. It was one of the things that was so mesmerizing about her.

Drugging the dogs had been the hardest part, and not just because they were innocent dogs. They were a Golden Retriever and a Collie that were named Cooper and Hunter, respectively, and they guarded the farm well. They ate quickly and efficiently, so he had to create a diversion by letting some sheep out before adding a few drops of liquid to each of the dog's dishes. They would be completely fine in the morning, he just needed them to sleep soundly through the night. After they were out, the house was easy enough to get into. These people still trusted their neighbors and the locks on the doors were jokes.

Bucky made his way up the two flights of stairs to the attic without one of the wooden steps creaking. It was stifling up there, the air conditioning still sitting at the base of the first flight of stairs. The two standing fans that were going helped hide any sounds that he made, not that he made any sounds, but did little to cool the room. One pointed at the form on the mattress and another was in the window, trying to draw in the slightly cooler outside air.

He crossed the room without thinking about it. Taking in the details as he walked. The bookshelves, custom made to fit the sloped roof, stuffed with books and old stuffed animals and pictures. The flags that used to hang on her apartment walls weaved through the exposed rafters making a colorful ceiling, and clothing along with other items thrown carelessly on the floor. The room was so her. But this was just another mission. Get in and get out. No one would know he was there. Just a ghost in the night.

Alexandra was asleep, sheets tangled around her body and legs. She looked a bit like those classical paintings of Aphrodite or other Greek beauties, though they were never depicted with tattoos and a large number of piercings in their ears. A new age Aphrodite.

Her eyes were moving behind her eyelids. She was dreaming. Bucky wondered what she was dreaming about. He wondered if she was dreaming about him. If she was, was it a dream or a nightmare? The things that she had seen him do, that had happened to her because of him, all in one week, it was probably a nightmare. That is why he had told her to move on, that she told him she had to. He was on the run, a killer, a wanted man. She had her whole life in front of her.

He shouldn't be here.

Bucky reached out and ran his finger across her cheek and brushed some hair behind her ear. He couldn't resist. He had told himself he only wanted to see her, but the sight of her walking by the river one day had totally destroyed that plan. Years upon years of training, resisting temptation, completing the mission, all of it could be forgotten by just looking at her. Her skin was warm, soft, and a little bit of sweat clinging there even with the fan on her. The blonde hair that wasn't held up her ponytail curling a little due to the humidity. The scent of her strawberry shampoo mixing with the smell of the farm outside. She had lost weight, the bones in her shoulders protruding a little too much, more than when he had last seen her. There were bags under her eyes, even when sleeping, showing that she was not getting enough of it. He knew the feelings. Being chased by demons in his dreams almost every night and very real people during the day. Demons he had created, and some that had been shoved on to him. Faces of people that he had killed. It pained him to see her chased by her own demons. Some that he may have given her. It was a vicious cycle.

He loved her. He knew that when he watched her walk away through the snow that day, the feeling of her lips on his still fresh. A goodbye kiss, one of the few goodbyes he ever got to have. Hell, he had known he was in love after only being with her a few days. He hadn't told her, not in a way that she understood. It didn't do either of them any good. That wasn't true, it did him a lot of good to know that he could still love someone. That the Tin Man still had a heart.

Alex stirred and Bucky knew that he had been there for too long. He let his finger linger against her skin for one more second before moving across the attic bedroom. The fan covering up the small creak in the board that he accidently stepped on. He paused at the top of the stairs when he heard the mattress creak.

Alex sat up in bed, bleary eyed, and looked toward the stairs. Bucky stood there, being torn apart by what he should do and what he wanted to do. He knew he should leave, it would be safer for both of them. Yet he yearned to go across the room and hold her, kiss her, and tell her how much she meant to him. How much he had missed her.

"James?" She pushed sweat soaked hair out of her face. The sound of his name in her voice, slightly rough from sleep and confused, almost made him stay. How he wanted to stay.

When she closed her eyes to blink James made his escape. He was good being there one moment and gone the next. A ghost. A dream. Always moving, the ability to be a beneficial or a tragic force in someone's life. Nothing of substance.

But with her he had been.

**Author Note**

I want to thank you all again for the super kind words that you have sent in regards to Tin Man. This is just a little snippet that I have worked on that I wanted to share. I promise that I am working on the sequel fic, called A Spider Spider Sat Down Beside Her, and hope to have it out to you all soon. Real life has been taking it out of me recently.

Again, much love and thank you for reading


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